Marquez crashes again as Dovizioso wins rain-interrupted Valencia GP

Repsol Honda rider Marquez, who had already wrapped up the 2018 title, is due to have surgery on his left shoulder once the 2018 campaign comes to a close and appeared to exacerbate the injury during qualifying, when he came off his bike and slid into the gravel.

The Spaniard emerged from that incident clutching his left shoulder and needed medical checks before he was able to return to the action, where he rode through the pain to get on the second row.

But Marquez did his shoulder no favours when he once again crashed during the race, going over the handlebars at Turn 9 after losing control of the front end, again nursing that injury as he walked away.

A series of further crashes led to a red flag and a delay of around 40 minutes while marshals did their best to clear some of the surface water from the circuit.

Dovizioso, who finished runner-up to Marquez in the final riders' standings, started second behind Alex Rins at the restart and overtook the Spaniard on the approach to Turn 1 two laps in.

Valentino Rossi, who had climbed from 16th on the original grid to third for the restart, followed Dovizioso past Rins but agonisingly crashed from second with four laps remaining and crossed the line in 13th.